


Walk Me Home

by starsgazingback



Category: Hannibal Lecter Tetralogy - Thomas Harris
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Fluff, High School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:02:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29894640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsgazingback/pseuds/starsgazingback
Summary: Just a brief window into a fun AU. Based on a prompt by imagineclaricestarling on tumblr.
Relationships: Hannibal Lecter/Clarice Starling
Kudos: 7





	Walk Me Home

“You know, you don’t have to do this every day,” Starling told him when he sat on the adjacent swing and handed her a dark, floral lunchbox with god-only-knows-what inside. “I’ll still be your friend.” She had the audacity to stick her tongue out at him. 

Never had she been intimated by him. Not when he was a high schooler and she was stuck behind in middle school. Not when he walked with his head so high and his eyes so dark nobody dared to fuck with him, while she kept her nose down and her smile courteous but aloof. Not when he was suspended for three weeks for maiming a boy notorious for looking up skirts and she had barely mustered the courage to stare the asshole down and tell him to fuck off. 

He was the nephew of a wealthy donor, top of the class, adored and feared. She was a scholarship student, a loner, awkward, with a talent for pissing off the wrong people. But he didn’t frighten her (well, maybe just a little bit). He was nearly four years older, but sometimes, when the setting was just right, she _terrified_ him. 

“I know that,” he replied just a tad too quickly, reminding himself to keep a steady heart pace and look her directly in the eyes. Those beautiful green eyes. He was a monster. “But I’m afraid if I don’t look out for you, you’ll start eating the wood chips.”

“You’d be surprised how easy they go down." 

Ah, yes, there was that usual awkward silence when he tried not to say anything insulting or over-familiar and she got to revel in the fact that she’d put her size seven shoe in her mouth. Again. 

Why did she always draw attention to her status as "the poor kid”. 

“That was a joke,” she nudged him with her elbow and swung a bit. “Never eaten wood chips.” Sometimes she wondered if he had any idea what it was like to go hungry - not that she ever starved, just had to skip meals here and there - but could he comprehend what kind of favor he was doing her. 

He smiled, forgiving her for the infinitely lame joke, and shivered slightly, pulling his shirt collar higher. She eyed him. “Left my coat in the kitchen on the way out this morning.”

“Here,” she hopped down, all fourteen years and five feet, five inches of her, and handed him the hoody which had been tied to her waste. It was just big enough to fit him snuggly and she laughed fondly at how silly he looked. Boys wore blue overcoats and sweaters, girls wore red ones at their Academy. But it wasn’t the color that struck her (he looked better in red, she thought), it was the look on his face. As if he didn’t know whether to be offended or weep in gratitude. 

“Thank you, Clarice.” A grin, showing half his teeth, broke out on his face like a shark. The bell rang, sparing him the torment of finding a way of avoiding flirtations with a freshman in the middle of the school courtyard. “Want it back before tomorrow?”

“Only if it starts to pour before I walk home.” She winked at him and turned to walk away, turned back, grabbed the lunchbox, and giggled shyly. Her skills at ruining even the simplest of human interactions always astounded her. But she managed to make it to class on time. 

When she was a safe distance away, Hannibal brought his now bright red and warm wrist to his face and inhaled deeply. She smelled like pencil shavings and oranges and ever-so-slightly like horse. The gray sky opened up and dripped slowly but steadily, like the leaky faucet in the second floor boys lavatory. Red eyes flashed, bursting red heart pounded noticeably harder. Now he had a reason to walk her home. He wondered which of them was going to hurt the other one more, by the end of it all. 


End file.
